Kathleen Erickson

Kathleen Erickson serves as a Contract Specialist at the Naval Air Warfare Center Air Division, where she plays a pivotal role in executing complex acquisitions for advanced naval aviation systems. Her responsibilities encompass the full lifecycle of contract management—from requirements validation and solicitation development to award and performance oversight—for mission-critical avionics, electronic warfare subsystems, and airborne sensor technologies. She supports the agency’s strategic imperative to modernize airborne platforms by ensuring timely, compliant, and technically sound procurement of high-performance systems that enhance fleet readiness and air superiority. Erickson specializes in engineering services, test and evaluation contracts, and integrated hardware-software solutions critical to next-generation naval aircraft. Erickson maintains longstanding relationships with leading defense contractors including SABRE SYSTEMS, LLC, THE BOEING COMPANY, SCIENCE APPLICATIONS INTERNATIONAL CORPORATION, SYSTEMS PLANNING AND ANALYSIS, INC., and ONTIC ENGINEERING & MANUFACTURING, INC. These partnerships are characterized by deep technical collaboration, often involving classified or sensitive program requirements. She consistently engages these vendors on high-complexity procurements requiring rigorous systems engineering, electromagnetic compatibility testing, and embedded software integration, fostering a contractor ecosystem known for reliability and technical excellence in naval aviation domains. Erickson’s contracting portfolio reflects a strong preference for full and open competition, with 100% of her awards issued without socioeconomic set-asides. While she does not routinely utilize 8(a), HUBZone, or SDVOSB set-asides, her approach emphasizes technical merit, past performance, and capability over socioeconomic categorization, aligning with the Navy’s mission-critical need for proven, high-assurance suppliers in sensitive aerospace systems. Her primary procurement focus lies in NAICS 334515 (Instrument Manufacturing for Measuring and Testing Electricity and Electrical Signals) and NAICS 511210 (Software Publishers), reflecting her specialization in airborne test instrumentation, signal processing systems, and mission-critical software development. She regularly procures precision electronic test equipment, real-time data acquisition systems, and embedded avionics software tailored to naval aircraft platforms, demonstrating deep expertise in aerospace electronics and systems integration.